


Imperfect Pantheon

by Listless_Songbird



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Vox Machina's struggle with divinity is real
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-09-15 09:43:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9229163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Listless_Songbird/pseuds/Listless_Songbird
Summary: Belief can change the world, people into saviors, saviors to heroes, and heroes into gods.





	

Vax is the first to know.

The Raven Queen always knew that her heroes were fate touched. So when she heard murmurings of people who thought them to be gods, she joined Vax's dream that night to let him know. Vax laughed and laughed, doubled over wings shaking. Them? Gods? Grog had coated his entire bedroll in mud the previous day. They couldn't be gods.  
Vax woke up still laughing, and shared his glee with his sister. The ambassador's bastards were gods! The two of them laughed their way through days of travel

(If they had stayed in Inns and listened to gossip in bars they might have heard the stories, might have been able to stop this.)

Over dinner that first night they tell the others. Scanlan's ego swells so big it could fill the room, and Grog declares a holy food fight. Percy just smirked because he is the farthest thing from holy. The smoking scars in his soul are evidence enough. Keyleth refuses, she doesn't want the power that this gives her. That sort of power is easily corrupted and that's not what's she's worked so hard for. Pike spends that evening cleaning mashed potatoes from her hair and praying to Sarenrae.

* * *

   
Pike is the first to understand.

Sarenrae explains how gods come from many places but they are truly born from collective belief. Vox Machina has touched so many lives that in the end, it was just a matter of time. Pike sat on her bed for hours thinking it over. Afterward she went to find Grog in the fighting pit where he tended to sleep. She flopped down on top of Grog's back and listened to his heart beating. Still mortal. Still here.  
Pike told Grog in the morning, they weren't gods but soon they would be. Grog put her on his shoulders and told her that that was as good of an excuse as he'd ever heard to have ale for breakfast.

(Belief can change the world, people into saviors, saviors to heroes, and heroes into gods.)

After breakfast Pike tells everyone else. Vax and Vex furrow their brows, Pike's the expert and suddenly this joke is much less funny. Percy grabs Keyleth's hand which she clamped down on his shoulder and pulls the two of them over to the ale. Scanlan declares that he will become the god of dick lightning and questionable parenting advice.

* * *

  
Vex is the first to hear it.

She may not have grown up in the streets as Vax had; but when hearing the faintest of footfalls means a full belly and happy bear, whispers are child's play in comparison.  
"Is that really them?"  
"We're lucky they're here."  
"This is the safest this city will ever be."  
Vex stops dead in her tracks blending back into the shadows and waits for this group to pass. She rubs a thumb against the locket with Trinket, a nervous habit, but it comforts her nonetheless. A lower profile would probably be wise.

(Heroes aren't fallible, they are the best of us. Something to be strived for.)

Vex sneaks back, and tells them all what she's heard. Vax joins Keyleth and Percy, holds their hands tight as Percy writes a message to Cassandra to see if they can get supplies in Whitestone. Grog joins Pike when she goes off to pray. He doesn't pray, but Pike needs him there so they sit together in the sand of the fighting pit. Scanlan mutters something about reading up on soon to be acquaintances, and heads to the religious section of the library.

* * *

 

Keyleth is the first to see it.

As a crow she can remain anonymous and still keep an eye out for danger. So she flies to town and watches as the day passes. She sees a small group of children playing by the side of the road. One fell down and got a gash in their leg, but before they could even cry out, another kid was holding their hand and saying,  
"Don't worry i've been practicing watch!" and their was a sparkle of light and the blood stopped. All the kids looked on in amazement.  
"You're just like Sarenrae's Angel!"  
"That's so cool, i've been practicing to work with plants like the druid can!"  
Keyleth takes off immediately, because influencing kids to care for plants and their friends was noble and good, but it would turn bad. Hero worship always does.

(What happens when these stories grow beyond childish games?)

Keyleth only tells Percy. He understands how much this scares her. His is not a story to emulate. Vax and Vex find them, drowning in what ifs and whisk them to the living room for a blanket fort in front of the fire. Pike and Grog have destroyed enough dummies to fill a room, and Scanlan hasn't been seen in days.

* * *

  
Percy is the first to try and change fate.

He was born fated to never be head of the de Rolo family. That was changed by the Brairwoods. His fate was to die during his revenge. Vox Machina changed that. Now he was fated to become a god? This was his to change. He went to the crypt of the Raven Queen he had built. She had said that he might not end on the side of the gods. Maybe she could tell him what to do.

  
(She tells him nothing. Flawed gods are needed in times of massive change.)

  
Percy tells no one, but calls a family dinner anyways. If there is any group that he would become a god with, this is it.

* * *

  
Scanlan is the first to use his influence.

This is just another trick up his sleeve, that's how he'll think of it. Or else the gravity of it will crush him into the ground. Just another card to be played, whenever he deemed fit. He saw a man sitting behind a nearly empty bowl on the side of the road showing his daughter how to juggle  
Scanlan ducked around a corner and lifted the invisibility. Walking up and placing a small bag of gold in the bowl. When he was recognized he winked and handed the girl a small lute. His first.

  
(Not every god needs flocks of followers. Sometimes they take in those with nowhere else to go.)

  
Scanlan come home and brags to everyone how he swept through the streets commanding awe and respect. Only Pike knows the real details. But from the soft smiles he's getting, Pike probably dropped some hints.

* * *

  
Grog is the first to speak to a god as an equal.

When he went to the temple of Kord, he had been nervous, him! Nervous! But Now? He was destined to be one of them, so they had best listen up. When Pike retired to pray, he started doing what Pike had said she did. Talk inside her head. He could do that.  
“ _Hellllllooooooooo I am Grog. What is it like being a god? I just think I should know before it happens right?”_ He waited until he got bored and tries again, this time he heard a voice like hammers hitting anvils, like bodies hitting dirt.  
**_"It is lonely."_ ** ****_  
_ Grog started and looked around before closing his eyes and thinking back  
“ _Nah I've got my friends. And my buddy Pike said all of us are gonna be gods.”_

**_"So you do"_ **

  
(These gods will become their own pantheon. They've weathered too much to be separated now.)

  
Grog smiled and poked Pike. She laughed and gave him a high five before dragging him off to tell everyone else.

* * *

  
  
(Maybe this wasn't what any of them would have chosen, but in the end the people needed deities more than legends)


End file.
